The Wind Underneath Their Feet
by jayknewc
Summary: A series of moments in the lives of two airbenders who have loved each other since day one. Slow burn, but worth the wait.
1. Prequel

**Prequel**

There was a kind girl who knew much evil.

There was a just boy who knew life was all but fair.

Sometimes they worried they were parallel lines.

Always together but never meeting.

They had dated- if you would even call it dating- before.

Just a few kisses on the cheeks and holding hands before lunch.

He was eleven and thought the world was just cardboard boxes and dirt roads.

She was eleven and thought the world was corruption and the lines gathering on her father's forehead.

At the age of eleven, they realized that they both only needed a friend.

Their break up was not tragic. No tears were shed. No hearts broken.

Kai remembered how she looked before they broke up. She stood tall and proud, a smile playing at her lips.

Jinora remembered how after they broke up, he kissed her on the cheek and asked if he could still sit next to her at lunch.

They left to eat and Jinora wondered if parallel lines could fall in love with each other.


	2. Chapter 1

The thing about Kai was that he was blunt.

He didn't jump around a problem like Jinora, or become passive aggressive like her father. He would face it head on, as if his problem was a boulder and he was an earthbender. If he believed something he would say it. If he wanted to take a risk he would do it. He wore his heart on his sleeve and at times, it was reckless. Jinora admired it anyway.

The first time he told her he loved her they were fourteen.

They were both laying on a grassy slope, the warmth from the sun making her skin burn and his glow. She was ripping out grass from the ground and placing it on his stomach while he rambled on about Air Nomadic activism (many airbenders were still treated poorly simply for being airbenders). Jinora just sat in the silent sun, listening.

After his rant, he placed his arms behind his back and took a deep breath, accidentally blowing off most of the grass Jinora had put on his stomach.

"Hey," she pouted.

He laughed, a shit eating grin grew across his face. "Sorry," he joked, "I didn't realize how hard you were working on it."

In retaliation she placed a handful of grass in his face, laughing when he got some in his mouth.

He spit the grass out with a smile. "Hey Jin?" he asked, softly.

"Hey Kai?" she hummed back in reply.

"You know I love you, right?" Their eyes both stayed fixed on the sky above them.

"Oh," she paused, slight panic washing over her, not exactly knowing what to say. Did she love Kai back? She loved the grass in his hair and the way he smelt of pine cones and bread. She loved his laugh when he plays with Meelo and the way his voice would break. She loved how his face would light up when we gets to eat broccoli slaw and pie for lunch. But did she actually love him?

Months later, the winter skies had taken over Republic City and frost decorated the kitchen windows of Air Temple Isle. It was early in the morning and Kai had just given Jinora the rest of his pancake.

"I love you," she sighed in thanks.

He just hummed in agreement and shoveled down his cereal.


	3. Chapter 2

The first time Jinora realized Kai was objectively 'hot,' it was a Monday morning and she was seventeen. The sun had just begun to rise and she could hear the crashing waves of the lake from the kitchen table. Her nose was buried in a book, waiting for Kai to wake up so they could both get a headstart on their morning meditation. Being two of the four master airbenders in the world, it was important that they were constantly leading a good example. Unfortunately for Kai, this included waking up at five in the morning.

In the mornings, however, Jinora noticed that he was no master. He moved more like an earthbender- his feet dragged behind him and his chest would heavily move up and down to breathe. His broad, dark shoulders stretched out his shirt and his eyes remained half closed.

When he plopped down next to her and started to eat the strawberries off her plate, she suddenly noticed how hot he looked when he was tired. She wondered if his dark arms had always been that big or if they grew overnight. She shoveled the idea deep inside her and instead coolly said "Oh sure, help yourself."

He made an irritated nose from the back of his throat and Jinora could only think about how sexy he looked, sitting next to her, groggy from sleep. She pressed her lips together, wondering if this was what a crush felt like.

Later that morning, when they were both meditating in the orange sunshine, Jinora had trouble emptying her mind. She was aware of every movement Kai made. How his features looked so relaxed, but his jaw would sometimes twitch when a cold breeze would blow past. She remembered when they were younger, he couldn't even sit long enough to meditate. Now he sat next to her, more focused than she.

She allowed her mind to wander.

She imagined how his life would've turned out if he never joined the air acolytes. If he would remain a homeless, petty thief, or become something more dangerous. Sometimes she would discover bits about him that reflected his life in the Earth Kingdom. How he always ate like it was his last meal, savoring every bite and never having leftovers. How he would furrow his eyebrows together and frown when he was talking to a colleague of Tenzin's or any cocky bourgeoise. Or when he got excited, she could hear his thick Earth Kingdom Peasant dialect that he constantly tried to conceal. How he would sometimes recite random survival facts to himself like it was a lullaby. Or whenever they ran into a getabon in the city, he would give all he had (which, on two occasions, even included the shirt on his back). His room had no personal possessions in it besides the clothes given to him upon his arrival, still ready to pick up and leave in the middle of the night. The life of a nomad suited him.

For the rest of the mediation, Jinora tried not to stare at Kai's bare arm or his damn jawline.


	4. Chapter 3

Despite living on the serene and peaceful Air Temple Isle, Kai and Jinora found there was something Republic City could offer them that the Air Nomads could not. A good time.

The two airbenders would often escape the isle and sneak their way into clubs or house parties, always hiding their recognizable arrows with hats or hoodies. They managed to befriend a guy from the city named Skoochy, who they got along with really well, along with a few other people their age as well. They loved talking to people who weren't monks or politicians. Just kids their age who wanted to give sloppy kisses and get ridiculously drunk. They really liked getting drunk.

Kai loved drunk Jinora.

Her cheeks would flush with red and her eyes would grow wide. Her confidence would grow to unseen heights and she would dance on random people and share stories with girls in the bathroom. She would constantly scream over blasting music that Kai was her best friend, bragging about him to anyone who would listen. If she got too excited, she would accidently create a small whirlwind, resulting in a few broken glasses and some askew hair. Sometimes she would step outside and befriend the people smoking, her eyes locked on the smoky air flowing in and out of bodies.

When she was drunk, she would hold his hand or play with the hair growing on his arms. She would say his name slow and blurry, making his chest flip and his mind go blank. Once, when she was drunk, a frat boy harassed her relentlessly, until she lost her patience and punched him square in the jaw, making his blood abundant and his sobs ridiculous. He liked how when Jinora threw up, she always cried a bit after and hugged him. And the next morning, Jinora would always wake up with a pounding in her head but somehow manage to make it to morning meditation.

Jinora loved drunk Kai.

He would wear his classic shit eating grin and slip back into his thick Earth Kingdom Peasant accent. He would loudly laugh unapologetically and stomp around with little grace, smelling of tequila and cactus juice. He would reminisce on his life growing up and would drunkenly sing Earth Kingdom songs, with a voice of silver and green. When he drank, his senses dulled and he could barely bend air. He could feel the air against his skin, asking to be moved, but would be unable to focus long enough to airbend. Random girls would hit on him or start dancing on his lap and his eyes would quickly find Jinora's from across the room as if to ask, "Can we keep her?"

Usually, however, Kai wouldn't go home with a random girl. He and Jinora would walk home together, and Kai, drunk, would call her his " _paulo passah_ ," then grab her around her waist and hold her. The next day, Kai would roll out of bed around three, greeted by a tedious and cold lecture from Tenzin.

It was a warm night and the street was lit by wax colored streetlights. Their skin was sticky and reeked of vodka, but they held hands anyway. The party had been like most of the others with lust, laughter, and liquor. The two benders were tired from a night of excitement, walking in the direction of Yue Lake, their words slurred and unclear. Their eyes were both half closed and they dragged their feet against the street as if it was magnetic.

"Hey, I had a good time tonight, _mea paulo passah._ " Kai said in a deep, sleepy voice.

Jinora frowned at the words, unable yet again to decipher them. Her mind was walking in quick circles but stayed focused on the sound of his calming voice.

"Kai," she wondered out loud, "what does _mea paulo passah_ mean?" Jinora loved to read, but she couldn't read the expression on his face.

He sighed, realizing he was too drunk to think of something clever to say. So instead he just spoke the truth. "My little sparrow. In an ancient Earth Kingdom dialect."

If she wasn't shit faced, she would've asked why he called her little sparrow, or why he called her that only when he was past drunk. She would have asked why he never told her he knew parts of a different language or why he was desperate to hide his past, still unwilling to share all he endured.

Instead of asking this, she could only manage to ask "Why?"

He shrugged and gave a dumb, "I don't know."

"Can you speak it fluently?" Her voice was loud now, echoing across the empty street. "How many languages do you know?"

"Uhm," he closed his eyes, remembering. "I can speak four, but only write in one."

"Fuck, Kai. You've got to be kidding," she said, shocked.

He didn't bother to answer her remaining unasked questions. He didn't want to tell her how the family who adopted him, and could have grown to love him, spoke only the ancient dialect at home. That he became fluent in the language because of them. He didn't tell her about the beautiful tale of the one of the first badgermoles, Icarus, who fell in love with a small sparrow and left his home to live in the skies with his love. He didn't tell her that their love was immortalized in the stars, or how it is custom to call the person you are courting _mea paulo passah,_ as sign of respect to the spirit of Icarus.

Instead of telling her this, he remained silent, his mind blank from liquor. The two benders reached Yue Lake, seeing Air Temple Isle in the distance. Jinora reached her arm around Kai's waist and poorly bent them both home.

When they reached the island, the drunk teens fell on the first sleeping bison they could find, ready for sleep to wash over them. ("Don't think I'm done giving you shit about this, buddy.")


	5. Chapter 4

Jinora was going on her first date.

His name was Hakoda and he was a soft spoken bookworm like Jinora. They had met at the Republic City Library Youth Program a few months earlier and enjoyed the same authors and plot devices. He seemed nice enough, and although she really doubted that the date would lead anywhere serious, she was excited to get off the island and do something fun.

She painted a subtle cat eye on her lids and, after much consultation with Ikki, decided to go for a more casual look- just orange shorts and a yellow sweater. Her hair was styled back to show off her intricately tattooed arrow that led from her head to her arms and legs.

When Kai sauntered into her room to wish her good luck, she suddenly began to panic, a horrible thought washing over her. Her breathing quickened and she felt dizzy. Sometimes Kai did that to her.

"You look worried," he joked.

"It's just I've never kissed anyone before." she quickly admitted, embarrassed.

He delivered his classic shit-eating grin and walked closer to her. "We've kissed before."

"Ha. Ha. Funny. Those weren't real kisses Kai. Kisses on the cheek don't count."

"I count em," he shrugged.

Her laugh was short lived before her worry returned back to her. "Rava, Kai! I'm nineteen. I should have had at least some experience by now."

"I really don't think Hakoda has had that much experience either."

"Kai, you know that I hate not being prepared."

"It's a kiss, not a test," he laughed. "He's not going to give you a grade at the end of the date. Besides, how would you even prepare for your first kiss?"

Jinora had a plan she knew would blow up in her face, but she took a leap of faith. "Kai, I've had a horrible idea," she confessed.

"Please share."

She gazed down and spoke slowly, allowing her nerves to get the best of her."So it's no secret that you've had more experience than me sexually, so maybe you could show me a few basics before I go out and make a fool out of myself?" She sighed. "I'm just nervous I guess."

Kai's back straightened and his smile turned into a confused frown. "You want me to teach you how to kiss?"

Jinora nodded.

A small choke escaped from Kai's throat and his voice lowered. "Fuck, you serious?"

Another quick nod.

His eyes became dark and he slowly moved in closer to her, looking at her lips. He grabbed her by the small of her back and pulled her in closer, then pressed his warm mouth against her own, opening it, and taking all control. She followed his movements, allowing him to create a rhythm.

She had read many romance novels where at the end, the two characters shared a perfect, simple kiss that nicely wrapped up the whole book. But Kai's kisses were not written to conclude a fairytale. They were written to set siege to villages. They were made of fire and spice, and Jinora wondered if drugs were this addictive.

She angled her head to reach deeper inside his mouth, and the back of his neck made a noise that warmed Jinora's stomach. His hand moved from her back to her ass, which he grabbed and moved her even closer to him. She could feel lust overcome him as his dick began to harden, and a smile played on her lips as she continued to kiss him.

When they broke the kiss for air, Kai looked at Jinora like she was his north star. His hand was still on her ass and the other had moved to her waist. Jinora pressed her head against his chest to smell him.

"Jin?" he whispered.

"Mhh?" she hummed back.

"Are you smelling me?"

A blush rushed to Jinora's cheeks as she broke away from his chest to look at him.

"Rava, you so were," he laughed.

"You always smell so nice!" she complained.

"What do I smell like?" he asked, his face lit with the joy of messing with her.

"Pinecones and bread."

His shit-eating grin made her melt into his arms. She felt eleven.

"You smell like parchment and oranges," he replied.

A smile played at her lips and she gave him a quick, easy kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Well, I am definitely less nervous about my date tonight. Was it, you know, okay?"

He pulled his arms off of her and absentmindedly crossed them. "You've always been a quick learner," he joked. She suddenly wished she didn't bring up Hakoda, she already missed the warmth of his skin on hers.

"What if he doesn't even want to kiss me?" she wondered out loud.

"Jin, he's nineteen and a virgin. Assume he wants to touch you everywhere."

It was nearing midnight when Jinora got home from her date, but she knew Kai would still be awake. She found him laying on top of a pile of baby bison, gazing at the night sky.

"Hey there dick-bender"

"Funny," she said, sarcastically, laying down next to him on the bison.

"Thanks, I thought of it like a second after you left. Now please tell me everything that happened on your date and leave out no details."


	6. Chapter 5

It used to be easy to be friends with Jinora.

As children, they would play with the bison and go swimming almost everyday. He would make faces at her from across the room during their history lessons and she would point at her book to tell him to pay more attention. They would play airball and sometimes Jinora would help him write letters to his favorite Pro Benders. He could talk to her about who he had a crush on and she would talk to him about the love interest in her latest novel.

It did use to be easy to be friends with Jinora, but lately he had been thinking about her in ways friends shouldn't. How she'll be in the library, with her hands holding together the spines of a broken book, gently flipping through the pages, and his mouth will go dry at the thought of those fingers against his spine, the scratch of her nails against his skin. How she'll be by the stable, petting the bison and his mind will wonder what it feels like to have her hands run through his own hair.

How once, she bent the air underneath her feet and raised herself up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. His eyes grew wide and a blush ran onto his cheeks.

"What was that for?" he grinned.

She just shrugged and walked away, but _Rava_ , he hadn't stopped thinking about her for weeks.

He's not eleven anymore, he's twenty-one. He wonders if parallel lines get lonely.

As a child, he heard stories that Avatar Kyoshi's smile could launch a thousand ships and send ten million men to war. But Jinora? Her smile had the power to thaw the ice around even his own heart.


	7. Chapter 6

Jinora had been searching the island for Kai since lunch and finally found him spread out on a picnic table, the sun kissing his skin. He was reading a Pro Bending book and his usually wild hair was contained by a bandada.

"Kai!"

"Hey Jin." he replied, tearing his eyes from his book.

"I was just looking for you to see if you were going to the thing tonight."

The "thing"was the Presidential Inauguration and it's afterparty, where the most influential socialites of Republic City were invited to watch an hour long ceremony and then get a little drunk after. Jinora hated going to them alone. But thankfully, Kai had been invited this time, since he had recently been getting a lot of publicity as a cultural icon. He moved to Republic City as a petty thief and worked hard to become a master airbender. Republic City loved a good bottom up story, and his looks did nothing but make him more desirable to the public.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah." Truthfully she was only going to go if he went.

'Cool, we should leave together. At the same time."

"Okay, I need you to stop me at three drinks though."

"I'll find you around six then." He gave her an easy smile and returned to his book.

She was turning to leave when he asked "Wait, Jin! What does _exhibition_ mean?" She gave him a definition and an example before she left.

("Rava, you're like a walking dictionary.")

Ikki found him an hour later. She had just turned eighteen and was sometimes scary to be near. Her dark eyes were constantly reading him like he was a puzzle that had yet to be solved and the countless hours she spent training have made her almost as muscular as him. If they were to fistfight, he would have to work hard to beat her.

"Hey Ikki!" he smiled.

"You're going to the inauguration tonight with Jinora?" That's the Ikki he knows and loves. No greetings, no smalltalk. "You should ask her out tonight. For real," she said simply, as if it was the weather.

He stayed silent but closed his book and rolled off of the picnic table.

"Kai, I know you like her. You've told me as much. You gotta make a move sometime because Jinora won't. She's my sister, I know her better than anyone. Jin is garbage at reading people and she's super passive, we both know it. She, honest to Rava, thinks your crush ended when you were twelve."

She paused, waiting for him to react, but Kai puts on his best poker face.

"Listen. I just want to give you a heads up, maybe a pep talk if you need one. Tonight would be a good night to tell her how you feel. Or at least make a fucking move. And don't give me that 'I don't want to ruin our friendship' bullshit. This should be so fucking simple for you two but you're acting like you weren't made for each other."

A rare silence fell over her when he said, "Maybe I will."

When Kai knocked on her bedroom door at six, he was wearing the fitted tux he borrowed from Bolin and some shoes made from Fire Nation leather. He patted down his hair, trying to get it to conform, and was sporting his designer, shit-eating grin.

"Wow Kai," Jinora congratulated. "You look hot."

"Yeah?" he asked, grabbing her hand with his. "You too."

He felt like kissing her on the cheek so he did.

The two airbenders were standing by the bar, engrossed with one another (to ignore the Republic City elite), already a few drinks in. They were joking about one of the Gurus they had met at the Northern Air Temple and his onion juice, but Jinora noticed Kai wasn't acting his usual goofy self. He was less active in conversations and his easy smile was now more forced and hard to read.

"You need another drink, I believe," Jinora said with a wink.

"Fuck, Jin. You get me," he sighed, putting his head on the bar. Ikki was right. And Jinora had wrecked him.

"Hey, I know what will cheer you up! I have a secret for you!" Jinoras cheeks were red from alcohol and her eyes glittered with excitement.

He piped up almost immediately. "Spill it."

"Well, it's not technically a secret, more of a suspicion. I think our new president's daughter has a major crush on you."

"Who? Fucking Katika?" He racked his brain, trying to think of a time he had ever even talked to her.

"The very same," she teased.

"Why are you so pleased that someone likes me?" He took a shot and slammed it back. It was spicy and made his neck feel warm. Instead of holding back a disgusted face, he stuck out his tongue and pretended to gag, knowing Jinora would appreciate his sad humor.

"Kai, you're in the middle of a dry spell."

"And what, your not?"

"I am, but I don't have a very pretty girl pinning over me do I?"

He chuckled. "You'd be surprised, Jin."

"Really?" she inquired, half-drunk. "Pray tell, who here would sleep with me?"

"I would," he said, more than half-drunk.

Jinora's expression became softer and she opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the Fire Nation Representative, Lee Nu. He tapped Jinora's shoulder and asked for a dance.

"If you don't mind," he asked, glancing at Kai.

Kai put on his fakest smile and nodded at Jinora. Her eyes locked with his, both shocked from his statement and angry that she now had to dance with Lee.

She didn't talk about it for the rest of the night, so he didn't either. But he noticed she quieter around him, like she didn't know how to behave. She sat closer to him by the bar and would lock his arm with hers. His chest felt a weird flip when she grabbed him by the waist while a slow song played.

He decided Ikki was right, He had to ask this girl out. For real.


End file.
